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Democrat Senator Joe Manchin is crossing the aisle to weigh in on a fierce GOP primary race in his home state of West Virginia.
The centrist Democrat appeared in a Friday campaign ad attacking Donald Trump-backed House Rep. Alex Mooney, instead appearing to endorse his challenger, Rep. David McKinley.
He also takes aim at President Joe Biden's failed $1.75 trillion Build Back Better plan, which Manchin himself killed when announcing his opposition to it late last year.
Mooney and McKinley are fighting for the GOP nomination to represent West Virginia's 2nd Congressional District after the state lost a seat to redistricting after the 2020 census.
It's rare for sitting lawmakers to wade into a race pitting two incumbents against one another in a primary, much less so for the opposing party.
Manchin is the only Democrat currently representing deep red West Virginia in Congress. Trump won the state by roughly 40 points in the 2020 presidential election.
'I've always said if I can't go home to explain it, I can't vote for it. And that's why I opposed Build Back Better,' the senator said in the TV spot.
'For Alex Mooney and his out-of-state supporters
